


Designed to View a World Unseen

by masquerace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Danny Phantom AU, Galaxy Garrison, Gen, Half Death, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Misuse of Government Technology, NASA inspired, Season 6 Spoilers, Team Bonding, Team as Family, kinda a NASA au, kinda angst, shiro wishes he was an astronaut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 00:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15182837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masquerace/pseuds/masquerace
Summary: Based on a post by shadyzap on tumblr: aka the Danny Phantom AU that season 6 demanded





	Designed to View a World Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> “I haven’t seen a Shiro x Danny Phantom comparison ???? Like Shiro is literally a ghost boy???Now that his soul rentered his body and turned his hair white??”
> 
> i fucking love danny phantom so this prompt was made for me

The technological advances that the Galaxy Garrison funded were known to be incredibly influential even outside the realm of space exploration. Not everyone came to the academy to travel amongst the stars, and very few even got the chance to live that dream. Space travel was still in its infancy, really.

The science division, though, that was booming.

Takashi Shirogane wanted to be a pilot. Wanted to be an astronaut and travel far beyond his wildest dreams, but for it didn’t seem to be his lot in life. Instead, he worked alongside the Holts, one of the most well-known families in the scientific community. He was given the title of captain after years spent helping manage the scientific development process, but he hardly felt he deserved it. He had a glorified desk job, even if his military training made him look like he did so much more.

The Holt siblings, Katie—who everyone called Pidge—and her brother Matt, made him feel like he belonged in the testing lab, though. They bullied him into joining their group activities, and those were usually accompanied by one of Hunk’s desserts. He claimed that baking was a science, so it wasn’t all that different from chemical engineering, but Shiro couldn’t really follow the logic. Lance, one of the lab’s main designers, understood his situation a little better than the other two. He also wanted to be a pilot for the Garrison when he first joined up, but instead found himself buried in blueprints on the regular. They managed to keep each other from thinking about their respective crushed dreams by ragging on Keith, their mutual friend who actually did manage to make it into the astronaut program. They all helped keep each other afloat.

“Hey, Shiro, are you already leaving?”

He blinked at Pidge, running up to stop him on his way out the door. “I should get home, figure something out for dinner.”

She ran a hand through the back of her hair. She’s cut it recently, and was clearly still getting used to the change. “You should come see this cool thing my dad and Matt have been working on. It doesn’t work yet, but it’s super cool and it’s supposed to tap into residual electromagnetic energy. Although Hunk thinks it’s gonna summon ghosts.”

“Ghosts?”

“Right? I mean, ghosts definitely exist and my dad does have that weird fixation on them, but that’s beside the point.” She grinned. “So do you wanna see it? Lance and Keith are already messing with it.”

Shiro sighed. He couldn’t say no to these guys. And anyway, someone needed to make sure they didn’t break anything. “Lead the way, Pidge.”

She pumped her fist and took off, and Shiro followed close behind. The machine was huge, and it reminded Shiro of some sort of large futuristic cave. Lance and Keith were fighting over the control panel, although the rapid fire button pressing clearly wasn’t doing anything. Hunk kept poking the outer shell, almost like he expected it to shock him.

“This is officially the creepiest thing your dad has ever made, Pidge.” Hunk poked it again and frowned.

“I know, isn’t is awesome?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it.” He didn’t sound convinced.

“Cut it out, Keith! Clearly pressing the same button forty times in a row isn’t going to do anything! Move over!” Lance hipchecked Keith and adjusted some of the levers on the control panel.

Keith glared at Lance, but quickly straightened up when he spotted Shiro. “I-uh...He started it.”

“What are you, twelve?”

“Says the guy spinning dials like it’s some kind of a toy.”

“It’s purposeful spinning!”

Shiro laughed and shook his head before Pidge caught his attention again. She was holding out one of the Garrison’s test suits with an eager look on her face. It wasn’t the most comforting sight.

“You should go inside!” She hurriedly shoved the suit into Shiro’s arms. “I’ll take your picture. My dad’ll think it’s hilarious.”

Making Shiro be their test dummy for some of their tamer experiments were one of the Holts’ favorite hobbies. He huffed in defeat, unsurprised that this was where the excursion lead. He tossed his jacket on a nearby chair and pulled the suit on over his clothes. The metal opening gasped before him, and something about standing in front of it gave him an eerie chill. Before he had a chance to step inside, Pidge yanked the Garrison logo sticker off the front of the suit.

“I really hate this logo.” She grimaced at it before dropping it in a nearby trashcan.

Shiro rolled his eyes and stepped inside. “What do you want me to do in here?”

“I dunno! Look around!” She held up her phone, already snapping a couple pictures. “Pretend you’re trying to fix it, that’d be a riot!”

Trying not to be insulted by that comment, Shiro knelt down and shoved a plug together. He’ll show her who can fix things. Straightening back up, he eased his way further inside, absentmindedly running his hand along the inner wall. It really did feel like a giant metal cave. Suddenly, his fingers felt a switch flip.

He saw the flash of green light before he felt it, and he tried to gasp for breath when it hit him. His chest tightened, keeping him from breathing. Over the buzzing of the light, he could barely make out the sounds of his friend crying out for him.

Opening his eyes, he realized he must have blacked out at some point. The others were standing around him, eyes wide. He struggled to sit up, and his heart dropped into his stomach when his hand suddenly phased directly through the floor. When he managed to scramble to his feet, he caught his reflection on the side of the control panel and gaped.

His hair was white.

His eyes were bright green.

What happened to him?

He stumbled in shock and passed directly through the chair he through his jacket on earlier.

“Oh my god, Shiro’s a ghost. We killed him.” Hunk looked pale. They all did, a little.

Pidge shook her head to try and pull herself together and frowned. “He can’t be dead. There’s not a body!”

“Look at him! He can walk through stuff! He’s _floating_!” Keith threw his hands in the air, clearly overwhelmed.

Shiro really needed to lay down.

He eased himself back down the ground and wished he had his body back. Suddenly, he felt very solid again, and he pushed at the ground. No phasing.

Lance followed his lead and also shakily sat on the ground. “You’re back to normal. You can turn the ghost off. Okay. Cool.”

Hunk shook his head slowly and muttered, “I knew that machine had ‘ _ghosts_ ’ written all over it.”

“Well. At least we fixed it.” Pidge crossed her arms thoughtfully.

She was right, though. The opening of the machine was now a massive swirling green energy field. Shiro took a shaky breath. The field that killed him. Half killed him? Either way, it looked like he had ghost powers. He had just wanted to be a pilot.


End file.
